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Latest Kong: Skull Island Trailer Brings the Action, Beats

The original 1933 “King Kong” isn’t a very action-packed film. Much of the movie’s midway point is spent on an extensive series of stop-motion animation battles between the gigantic gorilla and numerous prehistoric beasts. The animated sequences were a marvel at the time, but, in retrospect, look primitive compared to what even films with a moderate budget can accomplish with today’s CGI tools.

The latest trailer for “Kong: Skull Island” take's Young Guru's track "Groove" and focuses on the upcoming movie's action, with all the polish expected of a modern cinematic monster movie spectacle. There’s no animatronic Brontosaurus here.

The trailer follows the Monarch expedition’s first encounter with Kong all the way up to their discovery of the island’s other apex predators, the Skull Crawlers, massive, desiccated pterodactyl-looking beasts that have it out for the ape. The footage also features a voice over by Samuel L. Jackson, who plays an Army colonel in the film, reminding his squad that Kong is a “monster of some bygone era.”

“Kong: Skull Island” is part of Legendary Pictures MonsterVerse cinematic universe, which unifies the lore between the studio’s current run of “Godzilla” and “King Kong” films. Originally announced back in October 15, the cinematic universe will include other kaiju from Japanese film studio Toho’s extensive back catalog, including Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah. “Kong: Skull Island” was preceded by Gareth Edward’s 2014 “Godzilla” reboot, and will be succeeded by the direct sequel to that film, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” in 2019. Godzilla and King Kong will do battle in the 2020 film “Godzilla vs. Kong.”

Created by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper, Kong first appeared in the 1933 “King Kong,” in which an expedition to the fabled Skull Island revealed a world of massive monsters, where dinosaurs were still alive and well and the beasts were worshipped by the island’s native tribes. The film’s iconic climax saw a rampaging Kong loose in New York City.

Godzilla and Kong have done battle before in Toho’s “King Kong vs. Godzilla” and “King Kong Escapes.” Toho’s interpretation of the ape differed greatly from his original RKO conception. In “King Kong vs. Godzilla,” the ape had the power to harvest and reroute electricity as a weapon, and was scaled up to be roughly 150 feet tall (more than double the size of his original height). In “King Kong Escapes,” Kong is only 66 feet tall and must rely on his wit and intelligence to outsmart the giant nuclear lizard.

Debuting in theaters on March 10, “Kong: Skull Island” is a production of Legendary Pictures directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and starring Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman and Jing Tian.